


In Another Life

by radculas



Category: Sherlock (TV), Star Trek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, Character Death, M/M, Parallel Universes, cloud atlas - Freeform, episodic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 08:26:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2725643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radculas/pseuds/radculas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Our friendship is not something that has a beginning or an end. It has never happened, has already happened, and will happen again." - John Watson's personal journal. </p>
<p>In another life, in another world, in another time, the two have always vowed to meet again. Love transcends time and space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Another Life

_Revolution, revolution. Rebel and fight. Protect and prosper_.   
The words rang in Khan’s head over and over again but he couldn’t help noticing that it was losing its meaning. It has been 5 years since the United Federation of Planets executed a court case trial for his so-called “mass destruction” and “loss of civilian lives”. In the end, they sentenced him to go under behavioral modification. Hardly merciful.  
 All he asked for was to be reunited with his crew. His family.  
 But no, the Federation condemned him to eternal torture by molding him – once again- into something he was not. Khan hated how he allowed himself to succumb to this.   
There was still a part of him that schemed and sought revenge. On a daily basis, he contemplated a new and more definite plan to overturn the civilization and take lead. They needed a leader. Humans were made to be ruled. And he was made to lead. Or so that was what he used to believe.   
  
Khan had to admit that there was also a part of him that was forcing this ideology upon him. It is not like he had abandoned his family. His heart still aches and longs for them. Sometimes he cannot stand up on his feet for hours on end. Just exhausted. Oh so exhausted, helpless, powerless, and estranged. The rage and sense of determination he had 5 years ago is gone. No matter how hard he looks inside himself he cannot find it. Is it because he killed Marcus? Was that all it was about in the end? Personal revenge?   
Doubt was starting to cloud inside of him.   
Who is he? A superhuman.   
Supreme-being destined to lead mankind…no, he was a lonely man from the 21 st century thrown into the 23rd century.   
No, he was a ruler in exile.   
No, before that?   
A lab rat of a genetic engineering experiment.   
No before that? …Before that?   
He was just a homeless child living in the slums of North India.   
And what difference does that make from now?

“You should be careful, you know.”

Khan can still remember those words that were spoken to him when he was walking down the control room of _USS Bartholomew_ for the first time. After his most recent scuffle with Captain Kirk, he was let off from the _Enterprise_ and reassigned to this ship as the new science officer. Starfleet was uncomfortable about the idea of letting Khan off from the supervision of Kirk and his crew -for they were deemed as most experienced with handling Khan- but he has been causing too much friction with the crew lately. Not that it’s something new.

“Excuse me?”

Khan stopped his feet and turned his head towards the voice. A figure was sitting in one of the station chairs. His back was faced towards Khan but he could see short tufts of blond hair poking out from the top. The chair swerved around to reveal a man with firm jaws and a warm glint in his eyes.

“There are quite of bit of people who’s got relatives that you, well…on this ship, I mean. I already know two blokes who signed up for this vessel just because of you.” The officer shrugged. Khan frowned.

“Such circumstance is nothing new to me.”

The man let out a small chuckle.

“I guess so. You were on the _Enterprise_.”

Seeing that the conversation was coming to an end, Khan turned away from the man.

“But you don’t have Captain Kirk watching over the crew for you. Or Mr. Spock to wrestle you down if the need occurs. People are edgy. Mutiny, I say.”

Khan whirled back at the man. There was something about the how the man bluntly phrased his words and yet managed to deliver it in such a sincere manner that intrigued Khan. He gazed at the man with an emotionless face.

“I appreciate the warning, Mr…?”

“Arthur. Arthur Dent.”

And he grinned back at Khan. They didn’t meet again for another month.

As Arthur Dent warned, mutiny did happen. Or at least there were several attempts. Most of them were petty where crews secretly ambushed Khan’s quarter and tried to avenge their brother or cousin or lover’s death. Khan didn’t care. The phaser and the blades did nothing to him. He was poisoned once. It must have been a lethal dose for average humans but it only incapacitated him for a few minutes and he was back out on the flight deck shortly after. He saw several crews gawking at him. He remembered their faces, ticked them off in his head, and added them to his long list of enemies. None of them were Dent.

Unlike Kirk, Captain Lestrade was pretty bad at handling his crews. Dent was right on this point as well. Khan was not naïve enough to go complaining to Lestrade. There’s nothing Lestrade can do with his lacking leadership. Besides, no Starfleet officer would side with Khan. He was a convict, enslaved by Starfleet. They were no different from Admiral Marcus.

There was one incident though that alarmed Khan. There was that one time when some idiot smuggled a bomb in one of Khan’s working quarters. It wasn’t even his private quarter. His arm was blown off, a crew was blinded, and several damages were inflicted on the vessel’s equipment. It was hard to tell who the terrorist was now.

It wasn’t Khan’s first time to lose a limb. He had lost a leg long, long time ago when he was a street urchin. A group of hypocritical bastards grew them back when they were customizing him into a superhuman. Never did he want to experience it again. He never thought he’d go through the pain again nearly 300 years later.   
It is a slow and excruciating process. And he’s lost his arm from the shoulder, meaning that there was a lot to grow back. 12 hours tops.

He can’t remember how he managed to end up in the medics ward. There was a lot of screaming, sweating, and cursing. Everything is a blur. He vaguely remembers several men hauling him up from the rubble and dragging him to the medics.

Before he knew it, he was strapped down on an operation table with the strongest material they had. Sedatives didn’t work on him. In the end, they tried to stun him with their phasers like an animal while he writhed in pain. Superhumans are supposed to have high self-controlling abilities but this was too much. His training disappeared.

“Wait, hold it! Christ, what do you think you’re doing? If sedatives don’t work, there’s electrocution. Not stun him!”

A familiar voice called. Khan barely registered it through the heavy panting. The ugly sensation in his right shoulder continued to disturb his thought process. He couldn’t pin down who the voice belonged to. Khan gritted his teeth and growled,

“I don’t care just… put me out for half a day. That’s all…I need.”

“You heard him.” The voice snapped. After a few more minutes of struggling against the torturous pain, Khan noticed his consciousness fading away gradually.

He dreamt for the first time in a long time. He was reliving the time he only had a leg, heavily malnourished, lost, and hopeless. Day after day he dragged himself on the gravel, staring up at the passerby hoping that someone would throw a coin or two at his way.   
Whether that action was from pity or a true act of kindness was not a problem.   
He didn’t care. He just had to survive the day. But what for?

Then he was taken away. Cleaned, dressed, gathered, monitored and handpicked.

“Noonien, do you want your leg back? Hmm Noonien? We can do that for you if you want?” He never said yes but they did it anyway.   
Whether that action was from pity or a true act of kindness was not a problem.   
They didn’t care. He just had to conquer the day. But what for?

Khan opened his eyes with a start. His heart was pacing fast and sweat trickled down his face. A dull tingling pain ran down his right arm. He looked down. His limb has fully grown back. As he flexed his fingers, Khan grimaced.

“Tough ride wasn’t it?” A voice said as a figure entered through the automatic door.

“Mr. Dent…”

“That’s Dr. Dent” Khan gazed at the clipboard Dent was holding. The doctor flashed a smile. “No, Arthur is fine.”

“I assumed that you were one of the engineers.”

“Ah, that was because I was checking up on the medical stocks that they loaded on the ship. I was expecting something like this to happen. So I collected as may equipment as possible beforehand. Such as that electrocuting device. I’ve read all about you and your physiology.”

“You’re a medic.”

Arthur looked up from the clipboard and smiled warmly at Khan.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you, but I was assigned as your personal physician and security guard.”

“Security guard?” Khan raised an eyebrow. Surely, he was the last person to need that.

“Yes. To keep you safe from incidents like this.”

“Well you certainly have been doing your job properly.” He remarked sarcastically as he remembered the past numerous attempts on his life. Arthur shrugged innocently and propped the clipboard on the side table.

“It’s not much of the physical aspect I am worried about.”

“Oh, I see. You are here to keep an eye on me.” Khan said flatly and blinked. Arthur scratched his head and reached for a towel.

“It’s not like that… I’m really sorry for what happened.”

 He brought the towel up to Khan’s forehead and wiped away the glistening sweat.

“How is your arm doing?”

Khan flexed his fingers again and raised his hands to his eyelevel.

“Not bad. I will refrain from any sophisticated tasks for a while though. It takes longer for the nerves to set in properly”

“Fascinating.” Arthur breathed. Khan flicked his cool eyes towards his physician for a second and then turned his attention back to his hand.

“This means, no experiments and engineering for a while.”

“I could help you with that.” Arthur suggested. Khan dropped his hand and breathed out from his nose. “No, really. I would love to. Besides, my job is to-“

“Monitor me?”

“…assist you.” Arthur’s face dropped.

By that evening, Khan was out of the medic ward. He pulled on a new pair of black shirt and left without leaving a word of thanks to Dent.

After the whole incident, there was no way Lestrade was going to ignore the whole Khan-hunt that was taking place in the ship. He gave a warning speech to the crew and stated that the officer responsible for the bombing has been sent back to HQ and discharged. No word of condolences was sent to Khan.

Dent appeared a few days later to Khan’s work station with a tray full of food and prompted himself on a chair beside Khan.

“I’m not hungry” Khan muttered as he tapped away on the monitor.

“I didn’t say I brought it for you.” He replied as he took a bite off a loaf of bread. Khan stopped his hands and turned to Dent.

“Doctor, what is the purpose of this?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to see how your hand was doing.” Another bite off the bread and a sip of soup.

“You just wanted to see.” Khan narrowed his eyes but turned back to the monitor. He tapped away as Arthur continued eating. It was when he was halfway through the salad when Khan suddenly stopped typing abruptly. He let out a grunt as the fingers on his left hand slipped across the keyboard. He grasped his wrist with his left hand. His fingers were shaking now. Arthur dropped his fork and reached for Khan’s shaking hands.

“Yep, as I expected.” He declared after a few seconds of silent examination. Khan drew his hand back with a grimace.

“Yes, I know.” Khan muttered.

“Oh so you have noticed?” Arthur asked quietly. His expression was darker than his usual façade.

“I am decaying”


End file.
